Project 2 Outline

The following post, I will give an outline for my rhetorical analysis of the article, "The Minimum Wage: How Much is too Much?"


In my public speech act, the author uses many rhetorical strategies to persuade his audience. The goal of the text was to persuade the audience that $15/ hour minimum wage is too high and that $12/ hour would be a much more beneficial increase. The author uses lots of personal pronouns and makes the argument personal by explaining his own research. He gives two specific examples of other times or places that have raised the minimum wage where it has been successful. The purpose of this speech act is important because the economy will be highly effected by any change, and the government needs to take the course of action that will cause more good than harm.

Outline:

Intro:

The intro would talk about the value of weighing options especially when it comes to such a large group of people, all with different cultural differences.

Thesis:

Looking at the positive and negative consequences of raising the federal minimum wage, Alan B. Krueger argues that raising the minimum wage to $12/ hour would be beneficial but raising it much higher would cause more harm than good.

Body:

1.Author
    Econ Professor at Princeton
    Posts on Economix column in The New York Times
    Use of hyperlinks
    Personal story of expectations of research

2.Context/ Background
    low-wage workers story
    Risks not worth taking

3.Logistics
   Britain's minimum wage
   Past increases of minimum wage

Claim:

Krueger effectively conveys how high is too high for a minimum wage in the current day in the American economy.

Conclusion:

The conclusion would restate the thesis as well as remind the audience that there are always trade-offs in these kinds of situations. There needs to be logical thinking in order to decide the best course of action. From the research that has been done, $15/ hour would hurt the low-wage workers more than help them.


 
Reflection:

I read Swati and Samantha's posts on their outlines. Samantha's was really long and detailed. It is good that she had a lot of detail because it will help her writing process go a whole lot faster. Swati's wasn't as long and Samantha's, but hers was really well organized and still thorough. Mine didn't cover as much as theirs did. I used this outline more as a skeleton and didn't ass much flesh to it at all. This is going to make my draft slightly harder.